Special Projects

Category: Special Projects

Views 59 16-year-old Abduraman Abduveliev has received a 6-month restricted liberty sentence for taking down three Russian flags in the village of Kurske. The teenager was prosecuted for supposed ‘desecration of the Russian flag’ under Article 329 of Russia’s criminal code which, like the flags, is being illegally used on occupied territory.

Views 108 On 27 March, security services in Crimea carried out the largest house search operation of Crimean Tatar homes since Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014. Beginning at four o’clock in the morning, FSB, Interior Ministry and Russian National Guard personnel searched 27 homes in the Crimean Tatar villages of Stroganovka, Kamenka and Aikavan

Views 62 Pavlo Hryb, a 20-year-old severely ill Ukrainian student kidnapped to Russia and accused of aiding terrorism, was on 22 March 2019 sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Northern Caucasus court in Rostov on Don. Immediately after the sentence, Hryb announced he is launching a hunger strike – a form of protest

Views 84 On 23 January, Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist of the Open Russia movement, became the first person arrested and criminally charged for “participating in the activities of a foreign undesirable organization.” However, Open Russia is not a foreign organization — it is a pro-democracy movement operated by Russian citizens, on Russian territory — and

Views 92 On Wednesday, February 13, it was reported that Russia’s Justice Ministry labeled organisation “For Human Rights”, Forum member, a ‘foreign agent’. The Ministry website states that “the group’s compliance with the characteristics of a non-profit organisation performing the functions of a foreign agent was established during the unannounced documentary inspection of its activities.”

Views 84 The Russian authorities have for the first time used the repressive “undesirable organizations” law to open a criminal case against human rights defender Anastasia Shevchenko, exposing her to the risk of a six-year prison term, Amnesty International said.

Views 11,455 On November 25, the Ukrainian ships “Berdyansk,” “Nikopol” and “Yany Kapu,” en route from Odessa to Mariupol through the Kerch Strait, were detained by officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. During the detention, Russian border guards used life-threatening violence. As a result, the coast guard boat of the Russian

Views 144 The first criminal case involving failure to report a crime (art. 205.6 of the Criminal Code) has been opened in Crimea, The news was reported by Novaya Gazeta, citing the lawyer Emil Kurbedinov.

Views 1,568 Ukrainian journalist Alena Savchuk has been banned from entering Russia for 10 years. This was told to her by Russian border guards at the Novoalekseevka checkpoint when she tried to drive into annexed Crimea from Kherson.

Views 1,028 On November 22 in Nuremberg, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, SOLIDARUS NGO presented a report on the persecution of residents of occupied Crimea: Members of the “Mejlis” organization, the situation with prisoners and the violation of religious freedom and the freedom of national minorities.

Views 377 French director Jean-Luc Godard refused an invitation to visit Russia because of the Oleg Sentsov case. “Medusa” writes about this. With the permission of Godard, the Society of French Film Directors issued a letter that the director wrote to Dmitry Ozerkov, the Head of the Modern Art Department at the Hermitage. In the

Views 589 In the city of Dzhankoy, located in northern Crimea, FSB officers searched members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, an organization that is currently banned in Russia. According to the TV channel Vesti-Crimea, searches were carried out at 30 different addresses. Later, “Novaya Gazeta” reporter in Crimea, Anton Naumlyuk, clarified that searches at only five addresses